Tuesday, September 10, 2019
The Trail of Tears
Around 1838 and 1839 the Cherokee Indians were forced to give up their land and march, by foot, from Mississippi to Oklahoma. The distance they were required to travel was more than 1,200 miles of rugged terrain. Because of the long journey filled with hazards, disease, and fatigue, over 4,000 of the 15,000 Cherokees died.
This destructive migration was caused by the American's never-ending greed for land and resources, which prompted the Indian Removal Act in 1830. In fact, the reason for Cherokee removal was actually the discovery of gold.
Although the legislation was strongly condemned by some people, such as Davy Crockett, President Andrew Jackson was able to get the law through Congress, which allowed the relocation of the land's native inhabitants. What it did not allow, however, was exactly what President Andrew Jackson and President Martin Van Buren did--forcing the Native Americans to leave and taking their land.
The Cherokee tried to settle this matter legally. Interestingly enough, the Cherokee actually took a case to the Supreme Court, Worchester v. Georgia, in which the Cherokee argued that Georgia was infringing upon their land. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokee, because they saw the Indians as a separate nation and thus America must abide by the treaties which were signed by both parties. However, President Jackson was not deterred in the slightest. He was even quoted saying, "Mr. Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it!" Instead, he continued to try and force the removal of Native Americans, and renegotiated the Treaty of New Echota in December of 1835 with self-proclaimed representatives of the Indians (who weren't actually representatives of the Indians). This granted the Cherokee two years to move to modern day Oklahoma. Even though only a few Indians left voluntarily, eventually the entire tribe was forced out of their land by the U.S. Government and the state militias.
Sadly, the Cherokee Indians weren't the only group affected by this push for more land. Between 1830 and 1850, five Indian tribes were forcibly removed from their traditional territory.
Through his despicable actions, President Andrew Jackson once again gave history another example of the deplorable treatment of the Native Americans at the hands of foreign settlers.
Sources:
http://www.ushistory.org/us/24f.asp
https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/trail-of-tears
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h1567.html
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ReplyDeleteI really liked how you described the brutal treatment of the Indians through the Worcester vs. Georgia case and related it to other events like the Indian Removal Act. It seems like today, people tend to forget about how our government treated the native people, and it often gets overshadowed by the glorification of the important historical figures and presidents. America was clearly morally inept at times in the pursuit to move West, and I feel that it is important not to ignore this, even though us Americans want to believe that our history was always positive.
ReplyDeleteI think you did a good job describing the process of how the trail of tear came to be and details people might overlook. I especially think the numbers/data you gave right off the bat in your first paragraph, giving the reader a good idea what happened and the angle you'd be approaching this event at. You were also very informative on the court case Worcester vs Georgia, something not too many people would know about since it's more "behind the scenes".
ReplyDeleteI really liked that you included the Indian removal act and described the treatment the Natives got. There were those who were against the Indian Removal Act like missionaries who had invested their time and money teaching Indians to live with their white neighbors and accept Christianity. Ultimately however, Cherokees and other Indians were forced to leave their homes which held spiritual significance, which left them forever changed.
ReplyDeleteSource: http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nattrans/ntecoindian/essays/indianremoval.htm
This is a really interesting article about a terrible moment in US history. To this day, it is appalling how the president override the ruling of the Supreme Court to commit such an atrocity. In the article, it was informative to know that prominent figures such as Davy Crockett opposed Jackson's policies. It would be interesting to learn more about people who stood up to Jackson and fought for humane treatment of the Native Americans. I was also curious to read that part of the reason for the removal was the discovery of gold because I had never heard of that before. Where exactly was the gold found?
ReplyDeleteI think it was a good idea to put in the quote by President Jackson on the supreme court decision saying "Mr. Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it!" In saying that quote, it shows that the supreme court still had a lot of work to do. It also displayed that the government had very different views on national issues. It would have been really cool if you went further into to depth on the supreme court issue with Jackson. That being said, the purpose of your article was about the native Americans and not the Supreme court.
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